Shadow Origins: Velocis
Note: Dis be a draft y'all. PROLOGUE The Republic and The Empire... both alike in dignity. The far Outer Rim is where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal fates of these two foes, an agent and a Sith take takes his life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with his end continue the Jedi and Siths' strife. The fearful passage of his death-mark'd path, And the continuance of the Republic and Empires' rage, Will begin to show the Empire's true unrelenting wrath, Is now the two hours' traffic of our page; The which if you with patient eyes attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. Chapter One Kardan Eckos Kardan Eckos was a Jedi Watchman for the Jedi Order. Jedi Watchmen are Jedi protectors designated to guard certain planets and star systems. Their duty for the Order is to protect their assigned planet and to find force sensitive children within their assigned region of space. Kardan Eckos was assigned to an Outer Rim Star System whose name has been long forgotten and it was invaded and became part of the Imperial Territory and Designated Outer Rim Sector 1057. Since the Imperial Occupation, it drove any Jedi from that space to be held at the Jedi Temple until they get new designated posts to guard. Without the permission of the Council, Kardan made secret travels to his lost post to still find force sensitive children under the guise of an Imperial Sanctioned Merchant. Eventually riots began to break out across the planet and the Empire had to tighten their grip on the system and only allowed authorized visits to the planet. The various Cities did allow minimal travel off-world with high security but allowing free travel from city and city as long as it remained on-planet. This began a problem for Kardan preventing him from saving the force sensitive children leaving them vulnerable to Sith abduction and bringing them to Korriban. Kardan had a strong feeling in the force that drove him to search for two force sensitive teenagers on the planet that were in harms way from the Sith Empire. Kardan went to get a forged pass and ID to get access to land on the planet and pass Imperial Forces from an old friend with connections in the Republic SIS. Chapter Two Arrival at the City He followed the feeling as it became stronger and stronger as he approached. Upon landing at one of the two major city's on the planet, which was named Drall City, he followed the path and with showing the false ID, he had quick and simple access into the City. Upon leaving the spaceport Kardan unknowingly picked up an unwanted spectator to his arrival. The spectator was the odd one out in the group of Imperial Soldiers, for he bore a different uniform than the standard Imperial Troop, had a Sniper Rifle slung over his shoulder, and the most obvious trait from this spectator was that he did not wear a helmet and clearly showed that he was a Sith Pureblood. The Pureblood quickly broke away from the group and went to an inactive location and pulled out his holocomm and hailed the nearest Imperial Outpost. "Hailing Imperial Security, I have leads of Jedi presence in Drall City, Permission to dispatch the Jedi infiltrator immediately." "Permission denied." The Officer said, "If there is one Jedi, there will be more, if you caught one, then we are already too late to stop the Jedi infiltration. There might be at least a dozen Jedi know operating in the city. We shall issue an immediate bombardment of the city. We will patch you through to the Sith on duty in this sector." The Officer said in a casual tone. "Bombardment? Sir, I only spotted one POSSIBLE Jedi, there is no need to get a Sith involved and bombard one of the biggest cities on this backwater plan..." he was cut off as the Officer turned off the channel and patched him through to the Sith's comm. "This is Darth Goldvanius, what do you want?" The Sith said in an irritated tone. "I... I was patched through to you by Imperial Security to assist you in bombing a city... apparently they need a Sith to oversee the bombardment since Jedi are involved.." The Pureblood said in a grudgingly tone. "Jedi?" The Sith said in a curious manner. "Give me your coordinates and I shall send a shuttle to fetch you." "Fine, 'my lord', but I will follow the Jedi to key in a bombing location to keep down the civilian casualties and not make a mess of paperwork..." "Don't bother, a little murder and mayhem never hurt anyone of interest to me." Kardan noticed that there was a slight disturbance in the nature of the city and knew it was in impending doom. He knew his time became quickly limited. He noticed an Imperial Shuttle was flying abnormally low, that was a sign it was going to be a quick pick up for something or someone important, this was more than enough sign for Kardan that the Empire was aware of his presence. After zoning in on the location of where he was sensing eventually came upon two boys that were brothers that knew they were force sensitive but can't do anything. Kardan learned their names were Charik and Zanton, they had been avoiding Imperial encounters throughout the entire occupation, Kardan gave both Charik and Zanton medallions with his signature imprinted on it and instructed that the Jedi order will let them in if he were not to make it back. "Take these, and get to the shuttle departures. I'll be back with both of you shortly." Kardan turned around and headed off towards the Departures to Nar Shaddaa. "But he just went off to the Shuttle Departures!" Zanton said in a voice of agitation. "Maybe he's trying to get us a spot on the next shuttle out?" Charik said with hope. "Yeah, maybe, but why should we trust him? For all we know, he's an Imperial Operative luring us to be captured..." "Well, I don't think an Imperial Operative would dress like a Jedi trying to not dress like a Jedi but still can be noticed as a Jedi if you pay attention." "Charik, You can never know. We can't just trust a random stranger that approaches us..." "Zan, come on, We got to at least try, I saw him go off to the Nar Shaddaa departures, we might actually get off this Imperial Rock." "Yeah, to Nar Shaddaa, the smugglers moon, the 'glorious jewel' of the Hutts, the last place we'd need to go with a stranger! We'd get killed and-" "He's going to probably use Nar Shaddaa to get us a way to Coruscant then." A flash of rage overcame Zanton. "You do not say that planet's name while among all these Imperial Sympathizers and Imperial Tourists!" Charik noticed an Imperial Trooper, but his uniform was a bit different, probably from a different branch of Imperial Military of some sort, strange looking too for his skin was crimson, and it intrigued Charik. He wondered why this trooper was in a hurry rushing by without any other soldiers with him. Charik noticed the Imperial Trooper then suddenly halted and pulled out his holocom as if he was getting hailed suddenly. The Pureblood was in a hurry, swearing he saw the Jedi he spotted earlier head toward the shuttle departures, he went in to intercept him but suddenly he was getting hailed on his Holocom and had to answer it. He noticed the image that appeared was Lord Goldvanius. Perturbed, the Sith Pureblood answered with a sharp "What." "Is that how you answer a Lord of the Sith? Never the less, I will be seeing you shortly anyway to distribute proper punishment, but for now, I need you to arrive to my shuttle, the bombers are being dispatched, I'd hate to lose a useful servant like you now." "What?! But, I can simply take out the Jedi once and for all and we don't need to waste our time reducing this city to ashes!" replied the Pureblood. "Oh well, we already got the bombers in the air, it would have been waste of fuel and time now if we were to recall them..." "Oh shut it, you were never even going to listen to me about stopping the bombers." "Oh, you know me so well already." Goldvanius sounded amused. The Pureblood looked over to where he saw the Jedi last, he lost him and turned off his Holocom without thinking twice about responding to whatever Goldvanius last said and headed off to where the coordinates were received. He headed to them to board Goldvanius's Shuttle to get out of the city before it gets wiped from the face of the planet. "Look, he's going in the completely different direction now." Charik said pointing at the Sniper now sprinting to Imperial Personnel only section of the spaceport. "Who? That Pureblood? He probably got called by some Sith or something." Zanton said with agitation. Kardan came rushing back with a saddened expression on his face. "Boys, there is only enough room on the shuttle for two. I'll take the next shuttle out, they were just readying to depart, you should go now," "But what about you?" Charik said with panic in his voice. "I'll be in the next shuttle leaving in 10 minutes. Go now!" "Come on brother! We've got to get going then." Zanton said, pushing Charik to the side while he began to walk towards the departures. "Don't worry, the force will be with you, and remember that there is always hope." Kardan patted Charik on the shoulder and watched Charik catch up with his brother and then they vanished around the corner to the shuttle. While later, Kardan watched the shuttle fly off. Just then, Kardan heard a heart stopping announcement in the Spaceport. A voice message came over the intercoms in the spaceport. "All Departures shall not leave the spaceport now. The last ones to leave will be permitted to leave the planet. Any other shuttles will be allowed to move throughout the city. We apologize for the inconvenience. There is a suspected Republic Infiltrator in the City and we ask for your patience when we reprimand him or her." It was then Kardan knew, he'd not get off the planet alive. Chapter Three The Bombardment The Pureblood boarded the shuttle and met Goldvanius in person finally. "They just announced the shutting down of the spaceport, we are ensured that he won't leave when the bombers come in." "Goooooooooooooood... excellent." Goldvanius was pleased. "By the way soldier, I never quite caught your name." The Pureblood hesitated, but then said "Kalidus Sir. Of the Four Hundred and Third Division. Company C." The pilot, eavesdropping, commented "Wow, an elite Sniper from the Imperial Military?" Both Kalidus and Goldvanius turned and looked at him, Goldvanius with agitation, and Kalidus with amusement. "I'm surprised that you know about it. At least this ride won't be as annoying as I thought it would be." as he looked at Goldvanius and sat in the Co-pilot seat next to the pilot. The shuttle lifted off the ground and began to head away from the city. Kardan was at the Spaceport talking to the pilot in his shuttle trying to get it off the ground. "Captain, I need you to take this shuttle off the ground and out of this city, at least save these people on-board!" Kardan said with stress and urgency in his voice. "I'm sorry sir, but it's Imperial Orders, if we diso-" the pilot was cut off by Kardan "IT'S THE IMPERIALS THAT ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL!" Kardan said with frustration and turned around and headed off to an empty part of the shuttle pad and opened up his holocom. A Republic Soldier appeared on it and said "How are the targets?" the soldier questioned. "They're off to Nar Shaddaa Darok, but I think I'm not going to get off the planet alive, they're going to need you or someone else to pick them up to get them trained." Kardan said with sound of defeat in his words. "Alright Kardan, your death will be remembered among the rest of us. We'll need to get a new signer to take your place in Project Javelin if that's the case." replied the Soldier "Oh great, I forgot all about that. May the force be with you Darok, Glory to The Prodigal Knight." Kardan replied and turned off the holocom and turned it back on to message another person. This time a bit older man appeared, wearing what resembled a customized Republic Officer Uniform. "Hello? Kardan is that you?" replied that man. "Hey Choris, I have gotten myself into bigger trouble than I thought I would. We're going to need a new signature to take my place. His name is Charik, he'll know when he's ready to sign. Until then, just say that I am missing in action and that should prevent my signature from being void." "Wait, what? What are you talking about Kardan? I can dispatch help to you classified if that is what it takes. Hell, I'd even send out the Centurions prematurely as a prototype gear test if that is necessary." Choris Isano responded panic stricken. "No, there's no time, the city I'm in is going to get bombed, the Empire shut off any transit out of the city. I'm just saying my goodbyes. Tell Rek my congratulations on his drafting into that Special Forces squad. Goodbye Choris." Kardan shut off his holocom before Choris could reply and headed off back to the shuttle. Kardan turned the shuttle pilot around. "You will take this shuttle out of the city. Now." Kardan used the force to persuade the pilot and the pilot went to the shuttle and Kardan followed as the hatch closed behind him. Meanwhile in Goldvanius's shuttle, Kalidus was watching the shuttles radar with intrigue. They barely left the city when Kalidus got alarmed. "There is a formation of bombers no more than 23 Kilometers from us!" Goldvanius sat unphased reading an ancient tablet trying to decipher it. "Oh let them come, they won't harm us. If they do shoot at us by mistake, they'll notice the Emblem on this shuttles side. They can feel free to shoot anything else down if that were the case." Goldvanius then turned and wrote something down on a piece of paper. "You're going to lay waste, to an entire city, the only populated city on this entire rock! And you don't have a single care in the galaxy if even the Imperial Soldiers still on the ground get vaporized." Kalidus said with frustration. "So is the common casualty's of a potential Republic Invasion on a worthless rock that might become a prime checkpoint on a Republic Retaliation on the Empire." Goldvanius said with a sigh and turning back to look at the tablet. "Blast it all! You only care about yourself!" Kalidus slammed his fist on the small shelf built inside the shuttle to hold firearms and the like. "Uh uh uh, I don't only care about myself, I also care about the people and things that concern my interests." Goldvanius slowly looked up from the tablet with a smirk which was covered by his mask. But that smirk was short lived when their shuttle began to receive blaster fire and resulted in violent rocking and Goldvanius had to quickly grab the tablet to prevent it from falling and breaking. Kalidus turned around and grabbed the Co-pilot's chair and began to hail the formations lead bomber. The lead of the bombers acknowledged and halted the fire on their shuttle and continued their way beginning the bombings. Goldvanius placed the tablet back down and his smirk returned as a full blown smile, still not visible underneath the mask, and said "Let the chaos reign." and Goldvanius began to laugh. The shuttle began it's decent. Kardan was still walking to a seat when they cleared the spaceport and that was when they were caught in a barrage of blaster fire from the Imperial Bombers. It was all a blur, the last thing Kardan knew was that there was an explosion in the shuttles engine and caused it to suddenly go downwards at a high velocity, and then, blackness. Epilogue Kardan founded himself back in the Jedi temple, but something didn't seem right, it was during the night and he was wandering the halls. He was startled By another Jedi, he looked like a Padawan that just became a Jedi Knight for he noticed he part of his hair where the braid used to be but got cut off from the Ceremony. "What are you doing wondering the halls at this time of night? Aren't you afraid of Darth Torvus? If you aren't careful, he'll get you!" The Jedi Knight laughed and went on his way. Kardan was confused, because he recognized this was a memory from his childhood when he was a Padawan himself. He knew the story of Darth Torvus, some ancient Sith from the Jedi Civil War, it's just a Ghost Story made to scare the younglings and padawans in the Temple. Apparently this Sith followed Darth Revan and Darth Malak as a Sith Prospect on Korriban. Later after the Jedi Civil War he became an unspoken Third apprentice of Darth Traya during the Jedi Purge. Somewhere down the line he went insane towards the end of the purge with the fall of the Sith Triumvirate and vowed to eradicate the Jedi once and for all. The Republic never had an official document about it, as well the Jedi Order, but Jedi corpses began to surface when the Order got restored, they were appearing drastically disfigured, they appeared rapidly aged, just practically skin on bones, the skin grey, every vein showing, the force ripped from them, something horrifying in the eyes of the Jedi knowing that only one Sith could do such a thing, and that Sith died on the Ravager during the Battle of Telos IV. The morbid corpses were kept under wraps by the Jedi council, but the story still got go the ears of the average Jedi in the temple, but then it ended abruptly as it started, so it stuck three hundred later as a legend. Kardan never knew about how the name came along, since it was just caused by the mysterious third apprentice became Sith. After the Knight vanished into the darkness of the hallway, something happened this time, something that did not happen from this memory. Something that frightened him to his core. As Kardan turned around to continue walking, a giant explosion that shook the temple on it's foundation. He turned around to see where it came from when suddenly another bigger explosion, this time the fire lit up the entire place, and Kardan saw clearly the same knight laying on the ground, but long dead and just now a skeleton wearing tattered robes. He then began to hear blaster fire, fighting, and yelling and the very walls began to crumble and collapse around him. Kardan turned to run, but he turned around and saw blackness, and far away was a black robed figure. And that was when everything started to fade. ''"You are not going anywhere little Jedi... I have much left in store for you..." ''An ethereal soothing voice, almost a hushed whisper, a voice of a Serial Killer talking to his victim, was speaking to an unconscious Kardan. ''"I've been watching you from afar... your end is not near, I allow that tiny Jedi... I have great plans... you are a member to an organization, a cult, that worship's the bane of my existence... the reason why I suffer... the reason why I make others suffer... You will be instrumental in my efforts... to kill him... to end him once and for all.... the last survivor of my time... the last pupil of Darth Traya... but I know you won't do this willingly... so I will wipe your mind... make you forgot who you are... It took the entire Jedi Council back in my time to wipe one Jedi's mind... but it came flooding back overtime... lets see if I do better..." ''The voice began to do a hushed cackle and faded off. Goldvanius's shuttle landed in an open clearing, one where obviously a bombed missed leaving only the debris of the other buildings blown onto the edges of it allowing only a small room to land. "These are the coordinate that the bombers gave us where they shot down the rogue shuttle." The pilot said pointing off to the distance where smoke was rising. "I'll be here to keep the shuttle running m'lord." "Well of course you would, I wouldn't expect my dear sniper friend here at the shuttle, I might need him to be a witness for other than I to see if it was the Jedi he suspects." Goldvanius turned and exited the shuttle and walked off towards the plume of smoke. "This Sith is the most unbearable Sith I ever had to deal with! How can you stand being the pilot for him?" Kalidus said while slinging his sniper rifle over his shoulder and headed towards the shuttle exit. "Well, to be honest sir, I'm the 9th Pilot he's had and can tolerate." "What do you mean 9th? Did the others leave or resign?" "No sir, he killed them, heh heh..." The pilot began to chuckle and turned around to face the shuttle controls. "How lovely... I bet you must feel lucky then..." Kalidus stepped out the exit, and when he left he heard the pilot say, "Well, I kind of do, I've lived the longest out of the 8 others, and I think it's easier for me to stay out of the front lines... heh..." And the shuttle door closed and Kalidus picked up his stride to catch up to Goldvanius. "What are you doing now? We don't need to scan a wreck to see if it works." Goldvanius said noticing a scanner surrounding the downed shuttle. "It's not a diagnostic scan, it's a bioscan to see if anyone is alive in there to see if it's wor...." Kalidus was cut off when the Bioscan beeped positive. "I'll be... There is one life-form still alive in that." Kalidus looked up from the scanner with surprise. "Well of course! I would be worried if I was sensing a force user inside there still if they were all dead." Goldvanius grabbed his lightsaber but did not ignite it for precautions. "You, Sniper, go in first." Goldvanius turned and gestured toward the opening in the downed shuttle at Kalidus. "It's Kaldius sir, and I'd be more than obliged..." Kalidus just wanted to go in, shoot the Jedi, and be done. Kalidus un-slung his rifle and walked in looking around, all he saw was dead corpses, Goldvanius followed slowly behind him looking around the shuttle. To Kalidus's shock, he noticed the unconscious Kardan first, and without hesitation he got his sniper rifle aimed and ready, but he was getting it steady for a clean shot to the head. When he was about to pull the trigger, something hit his rifle and knocked it to the ground when the shot went off, a complete miss. Surprised Kalidus turned and saw Goldvanius was just finishing moving his left hand from what looked like some sort of gesture to move his gun. "What are you doing?! You have been preventing me from killing this Jedi the entire time! Are you working for the Republic or do you just enjoy preventing me from completing my task!?" Kalidus said as he went to pick up his rifle. "Well, I do enjoy messing with you and watching you struggle for my amusement." Goldvanius ignited his lightsaber and began to slowly walk towards Kardan. "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO ALL ALONG?! KILL THE JEDI YOURSELF?! YOU DESTROYED AN ENTIRE CITY, BEEN KEEPING ME FROM DOING MY TASK, JUST SO THEN YOU CAN KILL THIS JEDI!?" "Well, I would of said I've went through a lot of trouble to stop an impending Republic Invasion force, but if you want to put it that way, it works too. Just you getting angered at this was just an enjoyable byproduct of this all." But among these exchange of words between Kalidus and Goldvanius, they heard a moan, and they both instantly shut up and looked at where it came from, it was the Jedi waking up. Goldvanius drew his lightsaber and faced him, Kalidus went to raise his rifle, but Goldvanius pushed it down and held it down until Kalidus complied. "Hello there..." Goldvanius said readying himself for any reaction. But the Jedi just sat there, dazed and confused. The Jedi looked at both Goldvanius and Kalidus with a blank expression, almost confused on what was going on. Goldvanius noticed the Jedi went up and reached for his head to hold it, and noticed there was blood from where he held it. "I don't believe it Kalidus... our Jedi friend here... might of took a big bump on the way down..." Goldvanius turned off his lightsaber and put it away. He then walked to the Jedi and kneeled down next to him. "Do you understand Galactic Basic my friend?" " 'My friend'!? What are you doing Gol-" Kalidus was in a burst of dismay when Goldvanius lifted his hand and stopped him while still looking at the Jedi. "Do You. Speak. Galactic Basic?" Goldvanius repeated once more, and this time he got a reaction. "Yes, but.. I... I think that's it..." the Jedi looked at him, down at the floor and around the shuttle and said "I think I was in this shuttle..." He looked panic stricken. Goldvanius looked at Kalidus and back at the Jedi. "Don't worry about that, you're coming with me and my friend here. Isn't that right Kale-daws?" "Kalidus Sir." Kalidus said quickly but was cut off right after he said sir. "Callidum, whatever, as I was saying, you're my apprentice and we were caught in a nasty attack against the Republic, you took a massive hit to your head, but do not worry, I'll help the best I can to help you get to know yourself again..." Goldvanius helped up the Jedi and walked him out the downed shuttle and pointed to his shuttle. "You go in that shuttle over there, Me and Mallikus here will join you shortly." Goldvanius saw him off to walk towards there shuttle, he turned back to Kalidus with a shocked expression, completely voiceless. "Sir! This is outright treason! You just can't let this Jedi walk away and live! I'm going to have to repor-" Kalidus was cut off with a tip of a lightsaber was only a few centimeters from his throat. "You will say nothing if you value your life Baligus." Goldvanius looked at Kalidus and stood there waiting for a response. "I will say nothing Sith, but when this Jedi finally remembers who he is, you better be the one to kill him. My hands are clean of this." Kalidus said looking at the blade of the saber, feeling the heat from the blade oh so close to his throat. "Oh my dear friend, you're going nowhere. You'll be at my side to aide me when I beckon you, when I summon you, whenever I need a sniper to do an assassination for me, you will be there. If you do not comply, you will die." Goldvanius tilted his head only slightly as if he was going to listen to the slightest whisper from Kalidus. "I see then. If that's all it takes and it means different hours and still being part of the Imperial Military fine. Better for me I guess, If I decline I'm going to die anyway heh." Kalidus just rolled his eyes and shrugged when the lightsaber dis-ignited. "I see then we have an accord." Goldvanius put away his hilt and headed off to the shuttle where then the Jedi was standing there dazed waiting for Goldvanius to catch up. Kalidus stood there taking in the situation and to get himself back together and to think now of his new carrier change, because He'd still be part of the Military, he'd still said the Imperial Military, but he'd be Goldvanius's personal soldier at his call. Kalidus knew other snipers from his company that got called and went into private service for Sith, some in the Dark Council, they ended up getting killed by that Sith's rival eventually. But before Kalidus could finish that thought, he was flying through the air, like something grabbed his torso and just pulled him like a ragdoll, he noticed Goldvanius with his left hand at his chest making a pulling gesture, and before Kalidus could say anything, he was at the ground of the Sith just giving up now, looking up at Goldvanius standing over him and just let out a heavy sigh. Goldvanius, still looking down at Kalidus said "Hurry up now, you're being too slow. Do not make me pull you again." Goldvanius turned and entered the shuttle with his hand on the Jedi's shoulder. Kalidus got up and wiped himself off of any dirt that got on him when he landed on the ground and entered the shuttle. ''"And thus begins... the fall of the last branch... to finally end his three hundred year legacy... It was supposed to end with the Exile... but now It is my burden to end him... But I can not fully go against him... I am just simply the architect... I will be watching... I will be waiting to say hello to an old friend..." '' Category:Shadow Origins Category:SWTOR Fiction Category:SWTOR Category:Fiction Category:Shadow Fiction